Yush. New copyright. AND new watermark. I honestly don't think I could make my point any clearer. Don't make me slap on that hideous DA watermark. 'Cause I will if need be.

I'll stop myself there before I write an entire vent novel. This is my entry for *barbed-heart's horse sale. [link] I'm trying for her drop-dead gorgeous [link] (Blue Ghost). I was in love with him and his design from the moment I laid eyes on him. His design is by *Kumoulogy, so of course I adore him! What do you expect?

This Thoroughbred stallion will be a very substantial addition to our colorful Irish Sport Horse breeding program. And to our numerous competition champions, of course!

Name: BHS Blue GhostBarn Name: GhostieGender: StallionBreed: ThoroughbredAge: 7Height: 18hh (monstrously tall!)Color: Gray (perlino based) Tobiano/SabinoMarkings: Extensive jagged-edged white markings. Spots on lip and right nostril. Right eye is amber, left eye is blueGenes: Ee / Aa / CrCr / Tt / nSbNotes: Heterozygous everything.Discipline: Cross countryPassable Traits: Color, discipline, height, personalitySire/Dam: n/a starterBloodlines: TB x TBOffspring:RS Confetti || MHS RainFor stud: noCompetitions Entered: *JNFerrigno's Ride for Life contestAwards:1st Place and Most Realistic in *JNFerrigno's Ride for Life contestPersonality: Blue Ghost is an agoraphobic. He has a fear of open places and over-exposure. It's like the exact opposite of a claustrophobic. Ghostie always prefers when something - anything - is touching him, or very close to him. He prefers woods to fields; prefers stalls to pastures; prefers rain to dry; prefers indoor arena to outdoor. In fact, he loves the rain. The constant pitter-patter on his back is comforting, letting him know that something is always there touching him. This fear of over-exposure is one reason why he didn't do so well on the racetrack. *barbed-heart had trained him at first to be a racer, but the wide open, vast track was too much for Ghostie to handle. He didn't like to leave the starting gate. So now he's trained in cross country, where he can gallop among the trees and hills.

Story"Amy! Where is Blue Ghost? He's supposed to be in by now!" barked Jonathan Taggers, head stable hand, at one of the part-time hands. It was pouring down rain outside, threatening to storm, and the stable hands were scurrying about, trying to get all the horses in from the pastures before the storm worsened. So far, everyone was in their stalls, safe and sound, except for the newest addition, Blue Ghost.

Jonathan, frustrated, grabbed the keys to the six-wheeler and told Amy to hop in. In all the torrential rain, they sped off to the pasture where Ghostie was hiding.

"You would think it'd be easy to find a near-white horse when it's this dark!" yelled Jonathan over the roar of the rain and wind.

"Not when he's purposefully hiding from you!" Amy yelled back.

They finally found Ghostie. He was standing at the edge of the woods, picking up his feet and shaking the mud off. Ghostie hated when he feet got stuck in mud. The pale horse seemed very eerie standing there. With the mist at his feet and the spray of the rain in his back, he was practically glowing in the darkness of the storm.

"Quick! Halter him up and let's get out of here!" Jonathan yelled to Amy.

Amy did so, approaching Ghostie with caution. She didn't want to scare him back into the woods. But he just stood there, still shaking his feet, and watched her curiously. She buckled his halter and lead and then tugged on him to make him hurry. He followed obediently, and all three rushed back to the safety of the barn.

As far as I know, you use PS Elements, the same as myself, correct me if I am wrong. I am curious to how you get the color onto the grayscale. I have grayscales but I just can't do the normal way of getting the colors/patterns on there. Like your supposed to push command+B to get a box to pop up to change the grayscale to color and I don't have a box. Coulda help me?

Well, there is no "normal way", in my opinion. You just do whatever you think is necessary, in my opinion.

I know of two methods, and I find the second one easier to work with, especially with difficult markings.

Method 1: this method is more similar to what most tutorials do. Let's say you were making a bay horse. So you do Ctrl+A, to select all, and then go to Enhance>Adjust Color>Color Variations... . Then a window will open up and should have options like Increase Red, Increase Green, Increase Blue, Lighten, Darken, etc. By messing around with these options, you can add color to the grayscale. For your bay horse, you would set it on Midtones, then select Darken, Increase Red, and Increase Yellow several times to get a reddish-brown horse. So now you have your base color, you can now deselect everything (Ctrl+D), click on your Lasso Tool, set the Feathering to something between 10 and 15px (depending on the size of your image), and select the legs and muzzle, since on a bay horse, these are both black. Then go to your Color Variations box again, and darken, desaturate, whatever you find necessary to make the legs and muzzle black.You can keep messing around with different things like feathering sizes, color options, etc. until you're satisfied.

Method 2: this is the method I use. Create a new layer on top of your shaded base. On this layer, simply "flat color" the horse's color and markings. Then copy the layer, and set both of them to "Soft Light" (next to the opacity option). The shading should show through. The color is going to be a bit off (usually it's too dark), but you can fix this by selecting ONE of the layers, going to Enhance>Adjust Color>Adjust Hue/Saturation, and sliding the lightness bar and saturation bar higher.

And ta da! That's just the basics of coloring a grayscale. Hope that helped!

Bah, you BETTER get this guy.. He is an absolute heartthrob.. And I like the personality, too. Never met a horse like that.. but I myself used to own a claustrophobic horse... ah, what an absolute joy he was.. xD